The COVID 19 crisis requires that county human service agencies work in new ways, respond quickly, and plan in an uncertain environment. While agencies are facing similar issues, the urgent demands of responding to the crisis make it difficult to access the experience and knowledge being developed in other jurisdictions. BASSC is working to bridge this gap, by focusing on two avenues for information exchange: facilitating virtual conversations and collating and disseminating information from a variety of external sources.
We host and facilitate regional, virtual discussions that enable agency staff to share strategies for carrying out key functions related to delivering services, supporting staff, and coordinating with county and nonprofit partners. In addition to this local, cross-county information exchange, the BASSC team synthesizes for the discussion relevant research, as well as other sources of expertise. The first CIE session in July focused on Remote Work, with follow-up sessions on Remote Work planned in August to address Ergonomics and Equipment, and Performance Management.